That's the ONLY marine/sealife related factoid I learned over the
past weekend.  :-)

How did that come about?   Glad you asked.  :-))

There was a fantastic seafood buffet restaurant in Nashville, which
included all the Alaskan King Crab one can (wants to) eat.  I had
several of these "feasts" while I was on sabbatical leave in Nashville
in 1982.

Over the next 20 years, until last Friday, I had searched seafood
restaurants in Boston to Los Angeles to Alaska to Toronto and all
the cities I had set foot, without finding another buffet like it!
I also re-visited the same restaurant in Nashville some years ago
and learned that they no longer served King Crabs.

When we were in Nashville Friday, it was THEN that I learned from
the restaurant owner (or manager) that they had stopped serving Alaskan
King Crabs in their buffet menu for some years after 1982 because the
those King Crabs were on the Endangered Species List!

Well, these fellas must have made a big comeback, because while I
was a bit disappointed at the "unlimited King Crabs legs" (served
once a week) in a restaurant in Las Vegas (this year) because of the
size of those legs (medium to small), I was once again, treated to
the truly GENUINE Alaskan King Crab legs (and all I could eat too :-))
at the New Orleans Manor in Nashville.

Survival of the Fittest.   Glad the Alaskan King Crab made it, and I
can devour them in earnest, once again.   I am absolutely amazed at
the number of Alaskan SNOW crabs (the King Crab's small cousins) that
are being consumed in buffet restaurants and their prices remain low
-- which means they are still plentiful.

I HOPE they don't survive soooo well that we (human beans) may have to
try to destroy them (without success) like we have been trying to do
on flies, cockroaches, and rats.  :-)

Meanwhile, viva la Alaskan King Crabs.   Yummmmm.  <BG>

-- Bob.